Mechanism and process for producing knitted fabric having lap stripes



Aug. 23, 1932. .1. LAWSON ET AL 1,872,760 MECHANISM AND PROCESS FOR PRODUCING KNITTED FABRIC HAVING LAP STRIPES Filed Feb. 18, 1929 16 Sheets-Sheet 1 I raven 307 s John/Laws 0 21/, flobez'il-l-Lawson, by 51 11 Aug. 23, 1932- J. LAWSON ET AL. 1,872,760 MECHANISM AND PROCESS FOR PRODUCING KNITTED FABRIC HAVING LAP STRIPES Filed Feb. 18, 1929 16 Sheets-Sheet 2 I nveni ons JoE/m/L cows 0 n,

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fabric shown in Patented Aug. as, 1932 UNITED" STATES PATENT. OFFICE JOHN LAWSON AND nonnn'r n. LAWSON, or raw'rucxn'r,

CENTRAL ruins, nnonn ISLAND,

TO HEMPHILL COMPANY, OF MASSACHUSETTS MECHANISM AND PROCESS FOR PRODUCING KNITTED FABRIC HAVING LAZY RHODE ISLAND, ABSIGNOBS A CORPORATION OF STRIPES Application filed Eebniary' 18, 1929. Serial No. 840,822.-

This application is a continuation as to common subject-matter of our co-pending application Serial N,o. 233,637, filed November 16, 1927, now Patent No. 1,702,608, dated Feb. 19, 1929.

This invention relates to mechanism and process for producing knitted fabrics, particularly hosiery, less hosiery having tomarily known as lengthwise stripes, cuslap stripes, made by adfed in a plating relation, said plating yarns being maintained under plating control at the lap stripes, and, according to the preferred embodiment of the invention herein disclosed, said plating control is maintained while floating one of the said two plating yarns at the areas where the lap stripe threads are knitted in with the other plating yarn. Other embodiments of the invention will be also particularly referred to.

In order that the principle of the inven tion maybe readily understood, we have disclosed certain embodiments of means for practising the same.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a seamless stocking having the lengthwise extending stripes which, tion, we shall herein refer to as reinforced or lap stripes, which are shown as composed of blocks;

Fig. 2 is a plan view, upona greatly enlarged scale, of the inside of a portion of the Fig. 1, and showing one of the sets of blocks appearing asa part of a stripe in ig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 1, but showing relatively wide lap stripes which are lengthwise continuous instead of being in blocks;

Fig. 4 is an inside plan view, upon a greatly enlarged scale, of a transverse portion of one of the lap stripes appearing in Fi 3:

Fig. 5 is a detail, upon an enlarged scale, of the inside of a stocking at a narrow lap stripe, wherein three yarns are interknitted to form the stripe, which may be located and more especially seam-- and having two main yarns vertical section for convenience of descrip-- upon the jac s Fig. 17 is an' end elevation of the cam3 wherever desired but preferably at the back median line of the stocking;

Figs. 6 and 7 are details, upon an enlarged scale, of the inside of the fabric showing two lap stripes and thelapstri'pe thread floated from stripe to stripe;

Fig. 8 is a front elevation of the entire mechanism of our invention;

' Fig. 9 is a left hand end elevation of said mechanism;

Fig. 10 is a thereof;

Fig; 10a is a detail in vertical section upon the line 10a-10a of Fig. 10; e

Fig. 11 is a planview of the mechanism shown in Fig. 8, some of the parts being in horizontal section; V

Fig. 12 is a front right hand end elevation elevation of the head enlarged scale;

Fig. 13 is an enlarged end elevation of the said mechanism, a part thereof being in Fig. 14 is a view in end elevation and somewhat diagrammatic, of the means for introducing the lap threads; 1

Fig. 15 is a vertical section upon 15-15 of Fig. 14;

Fig. 15a is a horizontal line 15a15a of Fig. 15;

Fig. 16 is a plan view of the cam barrel and cam mechanism of Fig. 11 for operating for elevating selected needles.

section on the barrel mechanism shown in Flg. 16;

Fig. 18 is a detail in plan of the pawl and immediately connected parts for operating the cam barrel;

Fig. 19 isa right hand elevation of the cam barrel mechanism shown in Fig. 16;

Fig. 20 is a left hand elevation thereof;

Fig. 21'is an inside elevation thereof;

Fig. 22 is a side elevation, upon an enlarged scale, of the thread supplies for the lfap stripes and the tensioning means there- Fig. 23 is a plan viewof the thread tension mechanism shown in Fig. 22;

Fig. 24; is a plan view of the latch ring the line the lap threads;

Fig. 25 is a vertical central section of the mechanism shown in Fig. 24;

Figs. 26 and 27 are two elevation, of a part of the binder mechanism, viewed from oppositesides thereof.

Figs.28 to 31 inclusive are somewhat diaammatic front elevations representing the packs of those needles which take a lap thread, difi'erent jack cams being represented as functioning in the different views;

Figs. 32 is a perspective view of a group of ten jacks whose needles take the lap thread under control of their jack cams;

Fig. 33 is a perspective view showing a construction of jacks used in making the la stripe shown in Fig. 5;

ig. 34 is a somewhat diagrammatic view representing the taking of a lap thread and the taking of the main or plating threads;

' Fig. 35 is a front elevation of an arrangement. of jacks, and Fig. 36 is a plan of the cooperating feeding means employed when the same lap thread is knitted into each lap stripe, being floated from each lap, stripe to the next.

In accordance with our invention, we pro vide improved means whereby one or more additional threads or yarns may be introduced to make longitudinal stripes placed as desired and which we herein refer to as reinforced or lap stripes. In the disclosed embodimentof the invention, we have represented the introduction of eight such additional threads, but it is to be understood that the number may be varied as desired within the scope of our invention, and that the introduction of said threads, or any of them, may be interrupted at predetermined points, and particularly at the commencement of the heel and again at the commencement of the toe. The said additional threads are introduced through a special feeding device pref erably similar to that shown in our said Patent No. 1,702,608 and to which said 11 threads are delivered from an elevated bobbin carrier, stand or support, here shown as. eccentrically arranged with respect to the needle cylinder.

The regular yarns or threads (which, merely for purposes of distinction, we will refer to as the main yarns) are at least two in number, and they are fed in a plating relation,

- and, if desired, reverse plating mechanism may be associated therewith of any suitable type, as, for example, the sinker reverse plating means shown in the patents to Robert H.

awson, Reissue No. 16,584, April 5, 1927, and N 0. 1,605,896, November 2, 1926', or by a needle deflection method, such as shown in our Patent No. 1,690,076, dated Oct. 30,1928 and No. 1,720,649, dated July 9, 1929.

detail views, in

upon the needles, and the other main yarn floated at the inner face or back of the knittedin main yarn. At desired times the plating, which is disclosed as normal plating, may be reversed, as shown in said Lawson patents, so as to produce figures or patterns of any desired character between the lengthwise extending stripes produced by the said addi-' tional thread.

In the disclosed embodiment of theinvention, the said two main yarns are fedin a nor mal plating relation, and the additional threads by which the stripes are made 'upon the main yarns, are received by the predetermined needles, and desirably in such a manner that at each point where the lap stripes are formed, two threads only are received by the needles and knitted or incorporated thereby into the fabric, namely, one of the two plating yarns and the said additional thread, said two plating yarns being at other points both knitted upon the needles which at such points do not receive the lap threads. Said lap threads, in the preferred embodiment of our invention, are floated at the back or in- 1 side of each lap stripe, but within the scope of our invention, the same lap thread may be employed for knitting a plurality or allot the lap stripes in which case the lap thread would be floated from each lap stripe to the next lap stripe in each course, as shown in Figs. 6 and 7. In such case each lap stripe may be and preferably is relatively narrow,

as shown in Fig. 6, where the two lap stripes shown are each two needles in width and the 1 lapthread is floated past eight needles between said two stripes. The lap stripes may, owever, be wider, as indicated in Fig. 3, and the length of the floats may also be greater.

In order to feed the two main yarns in a plating relation, we preferably impart a greater tension to one of the main threads than the other, andpreferably we impart the greater tension to the main yarn that in normal knitting is to appear at the outer face of the fabric.

We may, however, in any suitable manner so feed or control one of the main yarns as to cause the other main yarn to show at the surface.

The invention may be practi'sedin any suitable typeof knitting machine, but preferably we practise the samein a circular knitting machine, of the independent needle type. 136

. the same in the siery, and have 8. without limiting our same as applied to chine disclosed While the invention is not restricted to the formation of hosiery, we preferably ractise' roductionof sea ess hoerein disclosed the same invention thereto.

While the invention may be embodied in various types of circular hosiery knittln'g machines, we have chosen to represent the a machine of the well known Banner type disclosed in the patent to Joshua D. Hemphill, No. 933,443, dated September 7, 1909. In this typeof machine, the needle cylinder rotates while the cam remains stationary, and although the mais for the purpose of producing hosiery,'it is obviously not limited tothisclass of work. invention as applied to a machine of such type without limiting us thereto excepting when expressly so stated in .the claims.

Generally stated, the knitting machine includes a needle cylinder 1 mounted upon a suitable table or base 2, constituting a part of the frame of the knitting machine, and, as is customary in this type of machine, the said needle cylinder is arranged to be rotated to form the leg and the foot of the stocking and to be reciprocated to form the heel andthe toe thereof. The means for effecting the rotary and reciprocating movements are substantiall the same as those shown and described in the said Hemphill ,main drive shaft 5,

patent, and, being, well known, require'no further description. i

A plurality of yarn feeding elements -is provided, as generally indicated at 3 in Fig. 11, so as to feed not only the two main yarns for plating, but so as to feed such other yarns as may be required, as, for example, the yarn for the garter top, the yarn for the heel and the toe, the high splicing yarn and the sole reinforcing yarn.

The means for introducing the said yarn, excepting the two pla'ting'y'arns, are pre erably the same as those used upon the Banner machine'and need not be here more fully described, and means for introducing the two plating yarns may be and preferably are the same as those disclosed in our said Patent No. 1,702,608.

The machine herein disclosed is of the independent needle type and the needles are desirably latch needles, but our invention is 'not limited to theuse of latch needles. In

the disclosed machine, however, we employ a latch ring 4 equipped with suitable binder mechanism which is particularly adapted for the, purpose of our invention, and which, except where specifically otherwise stated, is substantially the same as that shown in our Patent No. 1,702,608.

The entire mechanism is driven from the shown in Figs. 8, 9 and elsewhere, said shaft having thereon the usual pulleys and also having suitable gear- We will describe the ing including the pinion 6 for driving the large gear 7, known as the 104 gear, and which is mounted upon a shaft 8. From said main drive slia-ft is also driven in usual manner the quadrant 8--whereby the machine is reciprocated during the knitting of the'heel and toe. The machine is also provided with usual narrowing pickers, one of which is indicated at 9 in Fig. 12, and with widening pickers, one of which is indicated at 10 in said figures. ably those of the Banner quire no further description, but we may provide means substantially as disclosed in said Patent No. 1,702,608 for moving one These pickers are desirmachine and reof the'narrowing pickers out of the way of ed latch needles. At the upper end of the needle cylinder is provided the web holder 7 bed ring having radial grooves receiving web holders or sinkers WhlCll may be in the form shown in said patent, it being understood that if the machine be intended to knit normal plating only, the sinkers will not be contrasted among themselves as to provide for effecting reverse plating. The sinkers or web holders, however constructed, are preferably capable of radial movement in the said grooves and are reciprocated therein by suitable cams.

The pattern cam shaft is indicated at 11 in Figs. 8, 9, and elsewhere, and is located as usual in the Banner machine, and excepting as hereinafter stated it is provided with .the usual cam,eratchets, pattern chain, etc., which need not be particularly referred to. The series of levers that control the yarn fingers 3 are preferably similar to those reafixed axis, which axis is par-.

circle, as contradistinguished from the concentric but swinging axis of the patent to Bosch, No. 1,615,807, and we provide means to feed said member along said axis into and out of lap-thread feeding relation to the needles. The member which actually presents the lap threads to the needles is indicated at 12 in the several figures and particularly in Figs. 13, 14, 24 and 25. Viewing the machine from the front, the said member is in this embodiment of the invention at the left side of the centre of the needle circle instead of at the right side, as in said Patent No. 1,702,- 608. It is positioned with its centre of are passed through certain guides and tenrotation inside the needle circle, and'the l fastened'to the receive the eight or other number of tubes lap threads from the supply after- ,the same sion devices hereinafter referred to.

Inasmuch as the member 12 is positioned,

upon a fixed axis close to the-needle circle it is necessary to move said-member upward along its axis out of the way of. the needles in knitting the heel and the toe and also for V transferring. We have provided improved means for accomplishing these results which broadly are disclosed in our said patent.

Referring more particularly to Figs. 9 to a, the member 12 is shown in" Fig. 15 as,

having a stem 13 of small-diameter which is adapted to be inserted a short distance into a. hollow vertical shaft 14. The extreme lower end of said shaft 14 is lengthwise slitted, as represented at the four points 15, so that said lower end of the shaft 14 is resilient or springy and is adapted to be bound or pinched tightly against the short shaft 13 of-the member 12. To hold said member 12 with its shaft 13 in position, we have provided a collar 16 which is adapted to be tightened in place just beneath the shoulder 17 of the shaft 14 by a clamping screw 18 shown in Fig. 15a.

The said shaft 14 extends vertically to a considerable height, as shown in Figs. 15, 14, and elsewhere,- passing through a hub 19, being slotted as indicated at 20 to receive a key 21 fitting into a keyway of the hub 19-,

so that the hub and the shaft 14 rotate to-- gether, said shaft 14 being permissibly moved vertically to withdraw the member 12 from the immediate vicinity of the needles during knitting of the heel and toe andduring transferringf The several bobbins 22 for the lap threads are mounted upon a 'ring'23 which is secured by screws 24 to the basal portion 25 of the hub 19. As shown upon an enlarged scale in Fig. 13, the basaloportion 25 is received in a ring carrier or annular bearing 26 and a holding ring 27 is secured in position as shown by screws 28 so that said basal portion 25, shown as having a depending flange 29, is free to be rotated within said ring carrier or annular bearing. The latter, as shown in Fig.- 13, has secured to its under side a crescent shaped part 30 which receives screws 31 passing through arm 32 upon a hub 33 held by set screw 34 to a vertical sleevebearing 35 extending downward to the bed plate to which the base 36 of said sleeve is secured by screw 37.

The basal member 25 constitutes a gear 7 and is provided with teeth 38 meshing with and driven through an opening in the ring carrier 26 by a pinion 39 upon a vertical shaft 40 extending through the sleeve 35 and at its lower end having fast thereon apinion 41 above the collar 42 thereon. Said pinion 41 meshes with and is driven. by the gear 43 gear 44 that drives the needle cylinder.

In thi's'or in any other suitable manner the member 12 is rotated at the proper speed to present the several lap threads to the pre-' determined or preselected needles and the bobbins 22 carryingthe lap thread supplies are rotated concentrically with said member In order automatically tomove said member 12 at the time stated and, in order also to permit manual elevation of said member 12, we have provided the following mechanism shown particularly in Figs. 9, 14 and 15.

The upper end of the shaft 14 for the member 12-is recessed as indicated at 45 to receive a rod 46 pinned thereto by transverse pin 47. The upper end of said rod 46 is received in bracket 48 secured by screws 49 to another bracket 50 through which is adapted to be guided a long rod 51 extending downward through a bearing 52 in a bracket .or arm 53 secured to the creelrod 54, as shown most clearly in Fig. 14. At its lower end the said rod 51 has pivoted thereto at 55 a depending lever 56 which is lengthwise slotted at its lower end, as shown at 57, and receives a pin or screw 58 carried by an arm 58' on the hub of and turning with a ratchet 59 mounted upon a shaft 60 in the framing. Said ratchet 59 is provided with a suitable number of teeth or notches 61 adapted to be engaged by a holding pawl 62 mounted at 63 upon a convenient support, and also to be engaged by a pawl 64, which, as shown most clearly in Fig. 9, is pivoted at 65 upon an arm 66 carried by the shaft 67 of the quadrant 8. The

construction and arrangement of parts are the toe and is turned'a greater number of teeth just prior to transferring, so as to elevate the member12 out of the way of the needles, it being evident that the turning of the ratchet 59 any arcuate distance necessarily lifts the depending lever 56 and therefore the rod 51, because the pin 58 on the ratchet is located at the top of the slot 57.

In order to move the pawl 64 into engagement with the ratchet 59, we have herein provided a rod 68 pivotally connected to the pawl 69 at its lower end and pivotally connected at its upper end at 70 to a lever 71 which itself is pivoted upon a stud 72 upon the framing and has an end 73 adapted to engage proper cams such as 74, 75, 76 upon 

